NA Chairwoman meets Australian Foreign Minister

Canberra, (VNA) – National Assembly Chairwoman
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has expressed wish to further strengthen ties with
Australia within bilateral cooperation framework as well as at regional and
global forums.

During a meeting in Canberra on November 30 with Australian Foreign
Minister Julie Bishop, deputy head of the ruling Liberal Party of Australia, Ngan
said the Vietnamese NA welcomes and supports the upgrade of bilateral ties to
strategic partnership level.

As the two countries are to celebrate the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2018, Vietnam will work closely
with Australia to hold activities to raise the two peoples’ awareness of
bilateral friendship and collaboration, she said.

The Vietnamese NA leader also expressed delight at growing
two-way trade which surged to 5.2 billion USD last year from 32.3 million USD
in 1990. The figure is expected to hit 10 billion USD in the near future.

She spoke highly of mutual support in multilateral forums
and thanked Australia for supporting Vietnam’s candidacy as a non-permanent
member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

The guest asked Australia to continue working closely with
Vietnam in multilateral cooperation mechanisms and thanked the Australian
Government and the Foreign Minister herself for providing support for
Vietnamese nationals living in the country.

The top legislator took the occasion to thank the high-ranking
Australia delegation led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for their active
contributions to the success of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Leaders’ Week recently hosted by Vietnam.

She asked for increased collaboration in regional and global
issues of shared stance and interest, including strengthening regional
architecture, promoting trade liberalisation and economic connectivity.

Vietnam appreciates Australia’s thorough preparations for
the ASEAN- Australia Special Summit scheduled for March 2018 in Sydney and the
outcomes of the East Asia Summit (EAS) recently held in the Philippines, she
said, adding that Vietnam is ready to partner with Australia and ASEAN member
states to promote the content of marine security cooperation in the upcoming
ASEAN-Australia Special Summit.

The NA Chairwoman noted that Vietnam highly values
Australia’s positive stance on the East Sea issue, especially the comments and
strong message delivered by PM Turnbull at the Shangri-La Dialogue and the EAS
in earlier November.

Bishop, for her part, expressed hope that both nations can lift
bilateral ties to strategic partnership level in March next year.

Praising Vietnam’s important role in directing regional
economic integration, Bishop wished that more Vietnamese students will choose
Australia as a study destination. Vietnam is currently the fifth largest source
of students in Australia. The Australia government has provided 3,000
scholarships for Vietnam while 1,500 Australian students will study in Vietnam
under the New Colombo Plan (NCP) programme.

She hailed Vietnam for raising the East Asia issue in
regional forums, and reaffirmed that Australia backs the settlement of disputes
by peaceful means on the basis of dialogue and respect for international law,
including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.-VNA